Abstract

Objective: To provide national estimates of non-fatal cyclist injuries treated in US hospital emergency departments (EDs) resulting from an encounter with a motor vehicle (MV) on the road.

Methods: Non-fatal injury data for 2001–4 from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program were analyzed.

Results: An estimated 62 267 persons (21.5 per 100 000 population; 95% CI 14.3 to 28.7) were treated annually in US hospital EDs for unintentional non-fatal cyclist injuries involving an MV on the road. Among these cases, children aged 10–14 years (65.8 per 100 000) and males (35.3 per 100 000) had the highest injury rates. Many injuries involved the extremities (41.9%). The head was the primary body part affected for 38.6% of hospitalized/transferred patients, of which about 84.7% had a principal diagnosis of a concussion or internal head injury.

Conclusions: Effective road environmental interventions (eg, bicycle-friendly roadway design, intersections and crossings) along with efforts to promote safe personal behavior (eg, helmet use and following rules of the road) are needed to help reduce injuries among cyclists while sharing the road.

ED, emergency department

NEISS-AIP, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program

Footnotes

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Request permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.